The points for pacing.

In this issue of the Journal, the study by Higgins et al. (1) from the trial of resynchronization therapy provides the opportunity to assess the current status of both the application of biventricular pacing and the construction of trial end points for new therapies in heart failure (HF). The devices used in this trial clearly improved functional capacity in those patients with major functional limitation at baseline, a finding that reinforces the functional benefit seen with similar devices and populations in other trials. The strength and relevance of this emerging evidence stand despite the interposition of an end point that did not show benefit in this trial.